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I hope you will enjoy this story to its last chapter!

It started as a simple flu. Nothing more, nothing less. Everybody thought it would go away in three, maximum five days. Yet one week passed and Reine was still sneezing and coughing.

"Are you really fine?" Neil asked when Reine coughed yet again as she walked with him towards the front door to see him off.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She replied, not too convincingly.

Suddenly, she covered her mouth with her hand and true enough, another bout of violet coughs followed soon after. However, this time, when she removed her hand, Neil could see clearly the red stain around her mouth.

Reine caught up soon after, as she saw her blood-stained palm.

She looked up in bewilderment. "…Neil…?"

Pneumonia.

That was what the doctor said about Reine's condition. And once he found out that she had had another pneumonia before, and she had a history of miscarriage as well, this was what followed:

"I think it's too dangerous to carry on with this pregnancy."

"Are you crazy?!" was Reine's immediate reaction, her voice muffled by the oxygen mask that was put on to maintain a regular oxygen flow to the baby.

"Mrs Forrester, with a medical record like yours, I think it is more like an educated opinion."

"Are you telling me to… kill another of my baby?" she asked, her voice strained. "It's only two more months…"

"I'm saying that the delivery would be too risky," the doctor replied. "With your weakened condition, we can't tell whether… the delivery process will be safe for you."

Neil watched the exchange with mixed feelings. To put it very bluntly; the doctor was asking them to choose between Reine and the baby.

Say, how do you make such a choice?

After the doctor left the two of them in the room, Neil moved towards Reine's bedside and sat there. "Rest, Reine," he told her. "Just… rest."

Reine put her hand over his, "Anything you want to tell me?"

Silence. Then Neil's strained voice came out as he squeezed her hand, "I can't choose between the two of you…"

"You don't have to choose," she replied resolutely, despite her weak voice. "I've had a good life… a good thirty-three years."

He held his breath as he knew where she was driving at.

"I want this baby to have it, too—a good life… the feeling of being loved by you, by Keith, and by everyone else. This baby deserves it, Neil." She took in a deep breath and said, "Besides, I'm not going to give up another of my baby. You know I won't."

A mixture of sadness, anger, frustration, and helplessness built up in Neil and it transformed into tears that he couldn't hold back.

He promised her that they would protect this baby together, but now the only thing he could do was watching her suffering alone. Why…? Why?!

There were so many words in his head, pounding, trying to get on his tongue. But, he was never a man of words.

In the end, he wept in silence, and Reine carefully wiped the tears away, with a smile never leaving her face.

What if it would be the last time he saw her smile?

When the contraction happened, it was three weeks earlier than it supposed to be, and Reine was barely able to stand on her own. It was as if her body, knowing her wishes, wanted to push the baby out before she couldn't do it anymore.

The doctors told Neil, the risk of having Reine even in a merely general anesthesia might be too high for the baby—considering how many chemicals they had used to support her—while a normal delivery would be nearly impossible for Reine since she couldn't breathe properly.

They gave the choice to Reine, who daringly decided to go with a normal delivery. Therefore, as a safety precaution, Reine would still wear the oxygen mask and if anything happened, they would go through with the operation.

Just like how it had been with Keith's delivery, Neil went into the delivery room, holding her hand and supporting her back. He still remembered the feel of holding on her back when she was pushing Keith, and how much strength she had in her then.

It was easy to tell how much weaker she was this time round.

Still, Reine wouldn't be Reine if it weren't for her fighting spirit. She pushed the baby out with all her might, putting everything she had on the line as she squeezed his hand tight.

"I can already see the baby's head! You can do it!" the doctor encouraged.

Reine was about to take in another breath for another push, but suddenly her body dropped completely on his arm and her eyes closed.

"Reine!" Neil yelled.

"Doctor, she lost consciousness!" a nurse exclaimed.

"Prepare the OR," the doctor instructed. "We're going to have an emergency C-section."

Everything happened in a flash. Before he knew it, he was already in an operation room, with Reine on the table. He wanted to stay there until everything was done, but when he saw the surgeon took the scalpel and made the incision across her lower belly, he lost the strength in his legs. Before he dropped right there, he decided to go out from the room.

Allen and Gwen were waiting in front of the operation room. As soon as they saw him, Gwen bolted up and walked over to her brother-in-law. "How is it?!"

"They… they cut her." Neil stammered, before he groaned in pain as if he was the one being cut.

"It isn't like you haven't had performed a C-section yourself." Allen commented.

"Reine is not a dog!" Neil retorted.

"I mean… you know what they are actually doing on her." Allen corrected himself. "It's going to be all right, Neil."

Despite that, Neil was still pacing up and down in front of the door of the operation room. When the surgeon came out, he immediately bolted towards him. "How was it?" he asked.

"It's a girl, Forrester," he replied with a smile. "She was rather weak, so we put her in the incubator. But don't worry, your baby should be fine."

"How about Reine?"

"She is fine as well. She pulled through it."

Neil walked down on the babies' room, looking for his little girl. Like her mother, she wasn't hard to find, since she was the only baby with a thin layer of pink on the top of her head. Neil chuckled; her nose, her cheeks, her mouth… she looked just like a mini Reine.

He then saw the name card in front of the incubator. It was simply written 'Forrester'. Right, they hadn't thought of a name for her.

He then stared at the tiny baby, sleeping so peacefully despite the cords that were attached to her. Neil then put his arms into the incubator slowly and he felt the soft skin of the baby against his finger.

Then, he saw her arm moved towards his finger and gripped it in her tiny hand. The moment he felt her touch, something inside him stirred up. This was what they sought to protect… this tiny life.

Their daughter.

That moment, something struck his mind as if the Muse had just visited him. He smiled, "Hey, little one…" he said, "I thought of a good name for you, but let's wait for Mommy to wake up, okay?"

Sure enough, the first thing Reine asked for when she woke up was the baby. Once she was brought over, Reine cradled the little girl in her arms, and she smiled. "She looks just like you," Neil commented.

"I guess so,"

"When you were asleep, I thought of a name." Neil admitted.

Reine's eyes lit up, "And?"

"Catherine," he replied, "Catherine Lyla Forrester."

Reine broke into a satisfied smile, "That's beautiful,"

"We can call her little Kate."

"I like it," Reine said, "It kind of rhymes with Keith."

That's when the door was opened and Allen and Gwen entered, together with Keith who had been staying over at their place for the last few days since Neil spent his nights in the hospital.

"Dad! Mom!" he greeted excitedly, and his eyes fell on the tiny creature in his mother's arm. "Is that…?"

"She is your sister, Keith," Reine said as she lowered her arms, so that Keith could see Kate's face, "say hi to little Kate."

It was then Kate opened her eyes, and revealed the pair of violet irises that even Neil hadn't been aware of. "Oh, look! She has your eyes!"

Neil then met his daughter's innocent gaze, and then she broke into a soft giggle. "Aw~ look at that!" Gwen cooed. "Seems like she loves Daddy so much!"

Next Chapter: Years flew by, and an unexpected blow came to hit Neil.

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